Simple Thoughts, Simple Writings

We Argue But Never Debate

Disagreements between people are inevitable, after all everyone has their own opinion based on their education and experiences in life.

However, not all people deal with their opinions the same way. Some people consistently express their views, some don’t but they will taunt you when your opinion would fall flat and there are some who keep their opinions closeted.

It cannot be stressed how important it is as a person to voice one’s thoughts.

It does invite disagreements which can culminate into an argument or a debate.

Most people prefer the first option, regrettably.

Those who have seen people disagree and express it would know that there is a certain pattern to it:

A person says one thing, another refutes it. They begin to swear at each other and soon enough it becomes a fistfight with a wholesome audience of people who are seemingly deprived of quality entertainment.

One person says something, another disagrees. The first person presents some arguments to defend their stance. The other person begins to drag other issues into the argument, namely, the first person’s past errors. The first person too reciprocates after the provocation and both parties leave in a huff.

One person says something, there other disagrees. The first person gives arguments to defend their stance. The other person says something along these lines of, “Yeah, all the fault lies in me, I’m a flawed human and you’d be better off without me.”

It is obvious that we learn how to express our disagreements from our families, which means we only learn how to argue, to blindly believe that our stance is right and it is above all scrutiny, intellectual or moral.

Another reason we tend to argue is because we don’t adapt our viewpoints by careful thought, we just accept what we’ve been told by our family, our community, our politicians. Naturally, when they are challenged, we really don’t have anything to shield our beliefs. And we resort to what we’ve been taught in our families and by instinct : physically suppress the opposition or use emotional blackmail to win.
How hollow we are in our beliefs at times is reflected in another habit of people who are arguing: they avoid a direct confrontation with each other and try to win support by telling their sides of the story to the ‘neutrals.’ A direct confrontation even if forced results in a fight with the fists instead of a fight with words.

It is obvious both sides are blind followers of ideologies they themselves know nothing about.

By the way, a reflection of how bad are the presenter times is evident in the fact that the only skill one needs to be a politician, whether in India or abroad is the ability to argue, not debate.

It doesn’t help matters that the electorate is made up of blind followers of various ideologies themselves.